It would take more than a week for visit the entire museum, which has approximately 7 millions of objects. The British Museum was established in 1753, largely based on the collections of the physician and scientist Sir Hans Sloane. At that time, Sloane’s collection consisted of around 71,000 objects of all kind including some 40,000 printed books, 7,000 manuscripts, extensive natural history specimens including 337 volumes of dried plants, prints and drawings including those by Albrecht Dürer and antiquities from Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Ancient Near and Far East and the Americas.
The museum, frontal look
The museum, frontal look
The Museum was founded 250 years ago as an encyclopædia of nature and of art. Today it no longer houses collections of natural history, and the books and manuscripts it once held now form part of the independent British Library. The Museum nevertheless preserves its universality in its collections of artefacts representing the cultures of the world, ancient and modern. The original 1753 collection has grown to over thirteen million objects at the British Museum, 70 million at the Natural History Museum and 150 million at the British Library.
The museum officially opened to the public on 15 January 1759, in Montagu's mansion, but when it outgrew began in 1852 and at the same location, the construction of a new neoclassical building designed by Robert Smirke. The construction of the new headquarters of the museum, which has reached our days, ended in 1857 with the construction of the circular study room. In its main facade, on the pediment, was installed in 1852 a group of sculptures built by the British sculptor Richard Westmacott.
One of the latest additions to the British Museum opened in December 2000. This is the Great Court of Queen Elizabeth II. Located in the heart of the museum is designed by the architect Norman Foster. It occupies the site formerly occupied by the British Library, and moved to its new headquarters. The Great Court has become the largest covered square in Europe (90 x 70 m). The atrium roof is glass and steel, and consists of 1656 pairs of glasses.
At the heart of the Great Court is located, reading room, formerly part of the British Library. Room volumes were consulted by many great people throughout history, as Karl Marx, Oscar Wilde, Mohandas Gandhi, Rudyard Kipling, George Bernard Shaw, Vladimir Lenin, H. G. Wells. The reading room is open to anyone who wants it.
The British Museum
Edited by AlvaroIt would take more than a week for visit the entire museum, which has approximately 7 millions of objects. The British Museum was established in 1753, largely based on the collections of the physician and scientist Sir Hans Sloane. At that time, Sloane’s collection consisted of around 71,000 objects of all kind including some 40,000 printed books, 7,000 manuscripts, extensive natural history specimens including 337 volumes of dried plants, prints and drawings including those by Albrecht Dürer and antiquities from Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Ancient Near and Far East and the Americas.
The Museum was founded 250 years ago as an encyclopædia of nature and of art. Today it no longer houses collections of natural history, and the books and manuscripts it once held now form part of the independent British Library. The Museum nevertheless preserves its universality in its collections of artefacts representing the cultures of the world, ancient and modern. The original 1753 collection has grown to over thirteen million objects at the British Museum, 70 million at the Natural History Museum and 150 million at the British Library.
The museum officially opened to the public on 15 January 1759, in Montagu's mansion, but when it outgrew began in 1852 and at the same location, the construction of a new neoclassical building designed by Robert Smirke. The construction of the new headquarters of the museum, which has reached our days, ended in 1857 with the construction of the circular study room. In its main facade, on the pediment, was installed in 1852 a group of sculptures built by the British sculptor Richard Westmacott.
One of the latest additions to the British Museum opened in December 2000. This is the Great Court of Queen Elizabeth II. Located in the heart of the museum is designed by the architect Norman Foster. It occupies the site formerly occupied by the British Library, and moved to its new headquarters. The Great Court has become the largest covered square in Europe (90 x 70 m). The atrium roof is glass and steel, and consists of 1656 pairs of glasses.
At the heart of the Great Court is located, reading room, formerly part of the British Library. Room volumes were consulted by many great people throughout history, as Karl Marx, Oscar Wilde, Mohandas Gandhi, Rudyard Kipling, George Bernard Shaw, Vladimir Lenin, H. G. Wells. The reading room is open to anyone who wants it.